


Some Things Never Change

by cadkitten



Category: Argent: The Consortium, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Loss, Lost Love, Love, M/M, Memory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 06:10:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8786644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cadkitten/pseuds/cadkitten
Summary: The love of Jance's life - Barry Allen - disappeared one night, completely ripped from his life in an instant. No one believed it except those who saw it. With every single piece of Barry that's left behind disappearing, there is only one thing to hold onto: memory.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Help me, I've fallen in love with a board game character. Oi.  
> Jance: http://indines.wikia.com/wiki/Jance_Eylon  
> Song[s]: "Todokanai Omoi" by Juka
> 
> I sort of set this as if Barry had crossed over into another world, had met Jance and fallen in love and then was pulled away, perhaps back to his own world by whomever he had left behind, never to find his way back again. What would that aftermath be? What kind of hell would it be to have someone _erased_ from you life as if they'd never even been there? For the world itself to truly forget?

_Clink. Clink. Clink._

Some things never changed and the sound of the small keychain on Jance's camera bag tapping against the zipper pull as he walked just so happened to be one of them. 

On the other than, some things _did_ change. Sometimes rapidly, like the roll of an incoming storm or _quicker_ , like the way a song changed tempo when least expected. But sometimes things changed so achingly slowly that no one could really pinpoint _when_ they had begun to change, only that they had.

The never-ending swirl of a leaves, a season completely unending, those were the things that changed and yet did so at a crawl that had even the most faithful nearly hopeless in the oncoming change. Maybe this would be the year that it _didn't_ , maybe this would be the time where nothing happened and the entire world remained in some bleak _in between_. 

_Clink. Clink. Clunk._

Jance stopped mid-stride, halfway to his class, yanked from his thoughts more forcefully than intended. The wind picked up and ruffled his red hair, forcing him to push a hand through it to stop his bangs from falling into his face. Turning, he looked at the ground, screwed up his nose just the slightest when he found _nothing_ where he'd half expected to find his keychain. 

Reaching for the bag, he pulled it around and found it _gone_. A small circle, a few strides back and still _nothing_. 

His heart sank. That had been a gift from the one person in his life that couldn't ever be replaced. From a friend who had long-since disappeared: one of the greatest mysteries of the entire century. There one moment, _gone_ in the next, as if they had been ripped from time itself and yet everyone had retained their memories of them. There had been no evidence, no _coherence_ and they had called Jance himself a liar, claimed him to have been drunk or high - when he'd never touched drug nor alcohol in his life - and had gone on their way, content to ignore it, call it a missing person's case and _move on_.

His fingertips traced over where the keychain had been and he frowned, deep and _hurt_. Something inside his heart ached and he turned away, the barren concrete telling him he wasn't going to find the keychain no matter how much he wanted to. 

Some things changed and yet others simply didn't.

\-----

Hours later found him at home, found his fingers riffling through photo after photo of him and his friend, his heart pounding in his throat as they all showed Barry just where he belonged. Barry at the beach with him. Barry staring up at the sky on a stormy day. Barry leaning on his side and - _oh_ how well Jance remembered _that_.

The feeling of Barry's warmth, the way he'd always been so friendly and open with his affections. Always a hug, always a kind word and a smile on his face. Even when he could see Barry was hurting, it had always been everyone else that had come first: self-sacrificing to the bitter end.

Jance pushed away the stack of photos, sat back in his chair and pulled the pencil from behind his ear, tossing it down on the table, his glasses following. Somewhere in the depths of the house, he heard the quiet jingle of the bell on _Barry's_ cat's collar. Jance had taken her in within hours of Barry going missing, had kept her and loved her as his very own, and while he had never really had a fondness for cats... this one had won an exception. A grant of passage by way of Barry's good name.

Standing, Jance tugged his shirt over his head, making his way around the table and past the couch, reaching for his belt and starting to unfasten it as he walked down the hallway towards his bedroom. 

_Jingle. Jingle._

Some things remained consistent, though Jance had to wonder _for how long_.

Pausing to push his pants off, he moved past Barry's cat, her bright eyes meeting his in the darkness, glowing faintly from the stream of the hallway's light. Settling on the bed, he pushed the covers back even more and then slid beneath them, turning on his side and drawing Barry's pillow close. 

Some things _changed_ and some of those things hurt. Hurt worse than bullets, worse than every scar on Jance's skin that he held away from the public view. Because some things changed _when Barry had gone_ and nothing in the world would ever hurt as much as that.

_Jingle. Jin-_

Closing his eyes tight, Jance willed sleep to come, willed this eternal struggle with the pieces of Barry in his life _fading_ to simply _cease_. 

Futile as it was, there was only one thing Jance knew he'd ever be able to cling to. One precious piece of Barry no one could ever take away from him. No mystical force of the universe, no horrible, unnamed _terror_ could ever rip it from him. Because _memory_ was his and his alone.

Somewhere in his apartment the soft click of a clock ceased to be and Jance held his breath - _waited_ as five seconds and then twenty passed. He waited as the world around him _shifted_ and he waited as the careful dip of the bed told him he wasn't alone. 

And when he opened his eyes, it was to Barry's smile, to the brightness in those eyes, and to the best shimmer of _hope_ he'd ever had. 

_Some things would never change and - at least - his memories never would._


End file.
